I think there may have been a small change in Alacarakmo with 3.1.2 (I didn't notice it earlier in the week): the addition of a Listening Post called 'Distress Signal: Diamond Bear', around Alacarakmo 7a. There is a log that mentions the Black Riband, so I would suggest that anyone stopping by or making a run might be interested in visiting.

I think there may have been a small change in Alacarakmo with 3.1.2 (I didn't notice it earlier in the week): the addition of a Listening Post called 'Distress Signal: Diamond Bear', around Alacarakmo 7a. There is a log that mentions the Black Riband, so I would suggest that anyone stopping by or making a run might be interested in visiting.

I hadn't seen that myself, wow.

Thanks for mentioning it, and a big thanks to whoever arranged for the signal to be added! (Bruski? furrycat? Brett?)

Welcome back cmdr <--lightspeed-->!
As I've mentioned before, your Hip Hopper thread inspired the booze-cruise (I'd been planning it before FD actually added the passenger missions). Those Grey Knight mates of Nuk's are going to make it tricky keeping the guests happy though; more drinks maybe?!

At the moment, if you survive a run, you're top of the board! Although I suspect everyone's favourite Space Bear is going to switch to a modded ship soon.

It might also be spawn RNG dependent, during my testing I dropped 3 sets of 4 tons off with no issues, this time I died on the 3rd ton.

Ouch, again! Git gud?

Getting this done unmodded (and in a Cobra!) is optional, and the race is supposed to be a little bit more challenging than last time, but I really hoped you'd make it this time.

Regarding the encounter RNG. When I tested the course, the Grey Comets turned up in two Cobra MkIIIs (I was running once they started firing, so there may have been more and they might not all have been Cobras), they took out the shields on my DBX and about 50% of my hull, but I got away and I hadn't expected the attack, so I figured all was good.

My shields were the 3D G5 low-power-efficient / stripped down shields that I normally mount on The Nomad for races, just to help with landings. So in combat I never expect them to withstand more than a shot or two. My DBX hull is unmodded at the moment, thrusters were 4A with G3 Dirty/Drag drives (I'd only had time to visit Felicity during Close Encounters). As I was still in a racing config as normal, I didn't have any weapons, chaff or heatsinks and I didn't try silent running.

I tested out a few other installations before choosing this one (in the same ship):

A military installation (one of the few that hadn't been removed due to the crash-bug), where I got destroyed when the trespass fine switched to a bounty - this happened quickly enough that I wasn't sure anyone would be able to keep flying in and out of the trespass zone to complete the tunnel drops, and there were guns in the tunnels!

A special installation later in the Grey Comet story, where I was quickly destroyed by another special NPC.

The really nice space-bar installation in the Pleiades, where none of the npcs bothered me at all, despite me carrying lots of illicit cargo.

I didn't want to use two unauthorised installations, and did want to include the Rahu one, so I went with the installation that was dangerous, but I'd managed to survive myself. Originally I'd wanted to use one of the bugged military installations.

I guess that if modded ships can manage the Grey Comets encounter without too much difficulty, I'm still happy with it, but I've got to admit that I hadn't considered how challenging the two installations would be for classic / cobra-classic runs (as the Rahu 1 installation is equivalent to a Haz-RES I guess that'll be tough as well).

Little Nuk is lovin' it though- honestly the pilots bar at Weyl Gateway has Nuk 2 - SpaceBears 0 in MASSIVE neon lights and there's free Leestian Evil Juice for all customers, so you've got to do something about this quick before things get out of hand.

Or maybe not, I like Leestian Evil Juice, and it's hard to get hold of at Weyl Gateway.

One thing that I should mention: When I original started planning the Bootlegger Challenge and the Black Riband (I discussed it with ElecticZ and on Reddit before we'd even considered the BRC) my inspiration was the Smokey and the Bandit movie - and so I hoped to have a challenging race that not everyone would survive. Fat Tony and Little Nuk came later, I was originally going for NPCs based on the Enos brothers. In the movie, as you probably know, nobody has successfully made the run to fetch Coors back to Atlanta at the time the brothers challenge the Bandit - and the Brothers don't actually want anyone to make it.

So I wanted a challenging and dangerous event (Lave/Leesti were deadly places at the time, as rares running was very popular), with lots of smuggling involved (as well as Tarach Spice, Wuthielo Ku Froth was actually illegal nearly everywhere at the time). I wanted it to be challenging to optimise the route as well - and the post-race discussion in the original Bootlegger Challenge was all about Evandiary's python script, etc and how Alec was glad he'd done as well as he did using pencil, paper and eyeball to pick a route.

So when I planned the rebooted race, I wanted a bit more danger, with a few failed runs and I also wanted it to be a bit fiendish if you try and throw numbers into EDTS, but still okay to just wing it.

So as things stand I'm happy with things and Little Nuk is partying, but I realise that not everyone will share my ideas of what the challenge should be.
So for those who are running this , or planning to - have I got this about right?

I wanted a challenge and I don't mind if this isn't an event for everyone, but unlike the Enos brothers I do want some Cmdrs to make it to the end.

Entry submitted for my Bootlegger Express run.
It was not a great time - I did a test run yesterday (albeit without delivering goods to a black market or taking screenshots but still jettisoning goods in the tunnels) that was more than five minutes faster. Taking screenshots explains some of the time difference, as there are so many and I lose 3-4 seconds each time, but there were also two interdiction attempts to evade and I didn't really manage the station approaches in supercruise as well today, along with some terrible touchdowns where I overshot badly. It's a fun course, I just find the administrative overload of so many screenshots a burden but anyone using video will not have this problem so I can recommend it - and the Dolphin. I think there were 27 jumps in total that my unengineered ship needed to complete the course I chose and considering that's carrying some cargo, I think that's pretty good. Good luck to anyone else out there o7

One thing that I should mention: When I original started planning the Bootlegger Challenge and the Black Riband (I discussed it with ElecticZ and on Reddit before we'd even considered the BRC) my inspiration was the Smokey and the Bandit movie - and so I hoped to have a challenging race that not everyone would survive. Fat Tony and Little Nuk came later, I was originally going for NPCs based on the Enos brothers. In the movie, as you probably know, nobody has successfully made the run to fetch Coors back to Atlanta at the time the brothers challenge the Bandit - and the Brothers don't actually want anyone to make it.

So I wanted a challenging and dangerous event (Lave/Leesti were deadly places at the time, as rares running was very popular), with lots of smuggling involved (as well as Tarach Spice, Wuthielo Ku Froth was actually illegal nearly everywhere at the time). I wanted it to be challenging to optimise the route as well - and the post-race discussion in the original Bootlegger Challenge was all about Evandiary's python script, etc and how Alec was glad he'd done as well as he did using pencil, paper and eyeball to pick a route.

So when I planned the rebooted race, I wanted a bit more danger, with a few failed runs and I also wanted it to be a bit fiendish if you try and throw numbers into EDTS, but still okay to just wing it.

So as things stand I'm happy with things and Little Nuk is partying, but I realise that not everyone will share my ideas of what the challenge should be.
So for those who are running this , or planning to - have I got this about right?

I wanted a challenge and I don't mind if this isn't an event for everyone, but unlike the Enos brothers I do want some Cmdrs to make it to the end.

I should clarify, I'm very happy about the increased danger, I fully agree with you when you said that the original Black Riband turned into a pure speed contest (which was also very fun). This is turning out to be much more about route finding (since the course changes day by day) and survival and lastly speed.

The limited attempts I've put in are due to the cool-down mechanics and limited time on my end (my last attempt barely made it into the window, since I had to get kids to sleep and then wrestle with OBS to get recording), and don't indicate any lack of interest.

Entry submitted for my Bootlegger Express run.
It was not a great time - I did a test run yesterday (albeit without delivering goods to a black market or taking screenshots but still jettisoning goods in the tunnels) that was more than five minutes faster. Taking screenshots explains some of the time difference, as there are so many and I lose 3-4 seconds each time, but there were also two interdiction attempts to evade and I didn't really manage the station approaches in supercruise as well today, along with some terrible touchdowns where I overshot badly. It's a fun course, I just find the administrative overload of so many screenshots a burden but anyone using video will not have this problem so I can recommend it - and the Dolphin. I think there were 27 jumps in total that my unengineered ship needed to complete the course I chose and considering that's carrying some cargo, I think that's pretty good. Good luck to anyone else out there o7

Nice run Edelgard! o7
You are the first to make it back to Weyl Gateway, so Nuk's a little annoyed , but everyone else cheered you home. \o/

I'll do a leaderboard "update" later today - was too busy this weekend for any Elite activity unfortunately.

If you ever manage to have a go at the new Black Riband itself, I'm expecting the Dolphin to be a fairly good choice. It's lower FSD class should reduce the penalty of the little class 4 scoop compared to the DBX, and with a class 6 cargo rack, it should have a lot of flexibility selecting a route. I've never actually flown one though, and I know they have issues with heat, which is bad news in a cargo hauling race - so I could be totally wrong.

I apologise for the screenshot requirements. I guess that I could just use the five sales market screens, rather than needing the purchase ones as well. What do you think?

Screenshots do seem to be an issue with my races - as they're generally quite complex events. Why are you losing 3-4 seconds per screenshot though?

I should clarify, I'm very happy about the increased danger, I fully agree with you when you said that the original Black Riband turned into a pure speed contest (which was also very fun). This is turning out to be much more about route finding (since the course changes day by day) and survival and lastly speed.

Excellent! As long as it's still a good race for Black Riband regulars, it's "working as intended."

I lose 3-4 seconds per screenshot because I have found out the hard way that I sometimes need to press the f10 key several times before one is taken (Buckyball Run 9 was one case and I've lost the odd run here and there taking just one before). I think that, as in the Fram Celebration race, it is probably sufficient to show the selling of the rares. There have been other races transporting cargo and I think the screenshot showing the commodity market as you sell is enough - certainly for rares where there is only one place where they can be bought. It's your race, though, so if you can see a problem and want to see the buying phase, then that's ok. One day I'll probably have to get into making videos but I don't think it's something I'll do with my current hardware.
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The Dolphin is a good ship and does not overheat that badly (I've read that there used to be a bug that caused overheating flying over planets but I don't know if that is still there). I would say that with the loadout I had she was handling the heat only slightly worse than the unengineered Cobra MkIII I flew to Sgr A* recently, so that's not really a problem. In supercruise, the Dolphin handles similarly to the Viper MkIV, which is slightly less manoeuvreable than the Cobra MkIII. I kept the Whisper of Freedom unengineered until now because I wanted a baseline comparison of the times taken to run the original Black Riband and the rebooted version, so now I've done that I will get to work with upgrading the key modules, with a view to flying her in future races.
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Thanks for staging the race!

I agree with Edelgard, and so I've removed the requirement for a commodities market screenshot when buying. So black market screenshots before selling, plus a commodities market screenshot at Weyl Gateway at the end are all that are required to validate cargo.

I think that I've removed the only reference to the unnecessary screenshots from the rules, but if anything is unclear, or if I've the purchasing screenshots are mentioned elsewhere, then please let me know.

I lose 3-4 seconds per screenshot because I have found out the hard way that I sometimes need to press the f10 key several times before one is taken (Buckyball Run 9 was one case and I've lost the odd run here and there taking just one before).

I've set up a voiceattack macro so that when I press f10 (or say "screenshot"), it also 'presses' PrintScrn for me, and Windows 10 very kindly sends its screenshots to One Drive for me.

That's handy because I can sort through the screenshots on a different PC or my phone later, and can send a link to a One Drive folder if I don't manage to upload to Imgur.

Also, if I'm playing in borderless mode I get a windows notification in the bottom corner every time Win10 sends a photo to One Drive - so I know the screenshot worked.

First up this week is Cmdr Edelgard von Rhein's Bootlegger Express run in her Dolphin Whisper of Freedom. This was the first ever successful run in any of the new events, and Edelgard chose to use an unengineered ship for her first run and targeted the black market at Hart Station in Bast. She also avoided hauling narcotics, although there's no special award for that in the Express runs, indeed the commodity she chose to smuggle is only illegal within Federation systems and therefore as far as anyone who matters is concerned she didn't even break any laws. After her run Edelgard arrived back at Weyl Gateway in a very respectable time of 43m23s, and so currently holds both the overall Bootlegger Express record and the fastest time for a Bast run.

BLACK RIBAND STANDINGS - 21:00 UTC 18-JUL-3304

In the Black Riband itself, after two failed runs, CMDR Bruski refused to be deterred from his crazy attempt to secure five awards in one go. As with his second run, Bruski made use of the larger cargo capacity of the Cobra Mk IV and after a few mishaps made it back to Weyl Gateway in a time of 2h48m41s. That might look like a long time, but with a drug-free run in his non-engineered Mark IV Flaming OnionBe4r Freight it gave Bruski the Black Riband, the Classic, both versions of the Cobra Cup and the Zammo McGuire Memorial trophy in one epic run. We'll probably see some much faster runs than this one in the future, but it might take some beating in the Cobra Classic.

It also wiped the smile off Nuk's face - at least until someone else bravely attempts the Cobra Classic. Nuk's a real bad loser, the neon sign's gone - and so are the free drinks.

This is probably the only time that the rare Cobra Mk IV has ever led a Buckyball event, so well done CMDR Bruski! o7